This invention was the subject matter of Document Disclosure Program Registration No. 182451 which was filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Dec. 8, 1987.
As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,830,687; 3,952,481; 1,788,958; and 2,500,361 the prior art is replete with myriad and diverse constructions to assist in the packaging of specialized articles of commerce, including but not limited to, bakery products such as bread or the like.
While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are more than adequate for the particular purpose and function for which they have been specifically designed, these devices are likewise restricted in their adaptability to perform other operations outside their particular and consequently very limited environment or area of use.
As most home and relatively small volume commercial bakers are all too acutely aware, the task of slicing and packaging loaves of bread is a burdensome chore, primarily due to the inherent tendency of the individual slices of bread to fall away from the uncut portion of the loaf in an unaligned random and sometimes haphazard fashion. As a consequence of the foregoing situation the individual slices have to be realigned into a quasi-uniform stack of slices, that at least vaguely resembles the configuration of the unsliced loaf, prior to the insertion of the stacked slices into a package.
Obviously there has existed a longstanding need for a bread slicing, stacking, and packaging assist apparatus that would eliminate the aforementioned problems for bakers; and, this objective was considered to be of paramount importance in the development of the apparatus that forms the basis of the present invention.